“On the Mind” and “Noting and Sati” (With an Open Mind)

On the Mind

Do not follow the desires of the mind, but also do not suppress or torture it. The mind takes pleasure in unwholesome objects and will never free itself from sensual pleasures by following desire alone.

If one wishes to understand the mind, one must listen to Dhamma talks and practise. The nature of the mind is difficult to train. It is accustomed to roaming among sensual objects and is quick to react.

One cannot train the mind lightly; one must apply greater effort. Practice must be forceful and consistent. Always examine one’s own mind rather than the minds of others. One must teach and exhort the mind through samatha and vipassanā. This is the Middle Way, which neither follows desire nor suppresses it—avoiding both hedonism and extreme asceticism.

Otherwise, the process becomes short-circuited, failing to continue through contemplation of arising phenomena. For example, when greed arises and indulgence follows, imagination chases after desire, and defilements increase—as is commonly seen in the modern world.

You must contemplate all arising mental states from behind, through sati. Watching from behind is sati; knowing their nature is paññā. At first, paramattha and conceptual (paññatti) objects are mixed together, and one sees mainly the concept.

For example, when noting the arising of the abdomen, one may see “the abdomen” itself and is not yet free from the concept.

Sati becomes strong through noting conceptual objects; viriya and samādhi follow behind it and also become strong (see Mogok Sayadaw’s talks). Paññā follows later; it does not arise instantly. It also depends on the type of object. Paññā follows behind saddhā, sati, viriya, and samādhi—these are the five faculties and powers as they develop.

The contemplative knowing mind stays momentarily on the contemplated object. It is something like this: water waves are moving up and down, while a frog sits on a lotus leaf that rises and falls with the waves. For example, when contemplating the rising and falling of the abdomen, the lotus leaf is the abdomen, the wave is the air element, and the frog is the contemplative ñāṇa. With sufficient contemplation, the special knowing of perception arises.

It does not appear as the “abdomen” to yogi; rather, it is known as the movement of air, seeing its true nature.

The helpers of ignorance and volitional formation are doubt and heedless. The helpers of discernment are proper attention and effort. Knowing the nature of phenomena comes from noting with sati. With good sati, viriya, and samādhi, discernment follows behind them.

One must understand the nature of the mind and how it needs to be trained. In insight contemplation, it is very important to contemplate the mind. Even though one may contemplate other objects such as form and feeling, more emphasis must be placed on the mind. The mind always intrudes and disturbs the yogi from the beginning, through the middle, and to the end of the insight process.

When contemplating feeling, the aim is not to eliminate or make it disappear, but to understand its nature. The same applies to knowing the mind. The mind is like the eye and finger that look at others and point outward—yet must itself be understood.

Noting and Sati

Through noting and sati, the yogi knows the nature of the mind. When insight knowledge becomes mature, one may no longer be able to note in the same way. At that time, only watching and observing remain. This has its own level that follows the noting stage. In the Mahāsi system, the progression is from noting to observing—the noting-and-observing level becomes pure observing.

You cannot skip or pass over this stage. Even though people perform merits, if these are not accompanied by sati and paññā, they can still give rise to dukkha—suffering and problems.

[There are many examples, both in the time of the Buddha and among modern Buddhists. For instance, in the name of compassion and love, people may act blindly, without sati and paññā, thereby creating many external problems.]

Reflection: On Oneself and Others

(A Dhamma reflection based on a Dhamma talk by Sayadaw U Uttama)

Na paresam vilomāni, na paresam katākatam, attanova avekkheyya, katāni akatāni ca.

This is a valuable teaching in the Pupphavagga (The Chapter on Flowers).

(See Pāveyyaka Ajivaka Vatthu.) There are three important points in these verses.

1. We should not focus on the rudeness of others.

These are verbal and physical actions.

2. Also, do not focus on what others have done or left undone.
3. Rather, focus on what one has or has not done oneself.

The above three points are related to mental action (mano kamma).

Points (1) and (2) concern thinking about others, while point (3) requires thinking about oneself. Humans always perform actions through body, speech, and mind. These actions can be wholesome or skillful, and unwholesome or unskillful. These actions, or the law of kamma, are very important for one’s suffering and happiness.

Among these actions, one becomes increasingly extensive and complex, for example: bodily action → verbal action → mental action. Killing a human being → frivolous talk → unwholesome mental actions. There is much to contemplate here, from social levels to international levels. We can apply the ten wholesome and unwholesome courses of action.

Killing a human being is very rare in most societies, except in the U.S.A. because of gun laws. However, frivolous talk happens very often and everywhere, especially in the media such as television, the internet, radio, smartphones, and so on. There are many examples.

Most human mental actions—thoughts and thinking—are related to unskillfulness or unwholesomeness. This may be one of the main reasons beings are mostly reborn in the four woeful planes of existence (apāyas). With wrong views come wrong thoughts (all kinds of thoughts), which lead to wrong speech and bodily actions (of all kinds).

Therefore, Dhamma education, or Buddha’s education, is the noblest and best education for human beings. Only through the Buddha’s teaching can humans have right view and follow the right path. Otherwise, humans usually hold many kinds of wrong views and follow the wrong path—constantly increasing kilesas and harming themselves and others (even nature).

Why do we suffer in our minds? Because we think for suffering. But if we think for happiness, we will become happy (as in the Dhammapada story of verse 50, about the rich lady).

We have wasted our time by thinking about others and created much unskillfulness than developing merit. We have neglected our precious time and opportunities by thinking about others.

We do not know how to use our time well or how to think for ourselves.

In the world, we are not alone; we live among our surroundings and other people such as family members, friends, and others. Therefore, apart from oneself, all other people are “others.” It is very important to know how to think and behave toward oneself and toward others. This is also very practical in daily life and lived experience.

Therefore, the most important point here concerns one’s own true happiness—how to have proper, appropriate, and wise attention in all situations. This protects oneself and also protects others, and vice versa. This is also related to directing oneself rightly, as taught in the Maṅgala Sutta, which describes the most important blessings or protections in this present life and in future lives to come.

The well-known Burmese monk Tha-pye-kan Sayadaw instructed us to follow these teachings and practise accordingly, as taught in the Ambalaṭṭhikā Rāhulovāda Sutta (Majjhima Nikāya, Sutta No. 61). The essence of the instruction and practice is this: before engaging in mental, verbal, or bodily actions, we must first reflect on whether the action will be beneficial or harmful to oneself and to others.

Mostly, when we focus on others, kilesas increase. When we focus on ourselves, kilesas decrease because knowledge arises.

To support these points, I would like to refer to two Jātaka stories:

Jā. 459 Paṇḍita-jātaka and Jā. 490 Pañcūposatha-jātaka, both found in Volume IV.

To focus on oneself is to understand oneself—this is Dhamma practice. To focus on others is the way of the world, which leads to dukkha, because we become lost in the world.

The Buddha taught ten reflections for monks. Among them, there are three reflections that relate to everyone, and we should often reflect upon them. These are:

1. I must be separated from everyone and everything that is dear and agreeable to me.
2. I am the owner of my actions (kamma); I am the heir of my actions.

I have actions as my origin, actions as my relatives, actions as my refuge.

Whatever action I do—good or bad—that I will inherit.

3. How am I spending my nights and days?

These reflections should be contemplated again and again in our daily lives. They lead us toward wholesome directions. If we add another two reflections, we will have six in total:

4. I am subject to ageing; I cannot escape ageing.
5. I am subject to illness; I cannot escape illness.
6. I am subject to death; I cannot escape death.

(See Sutta No. 48, Things, Book of Tens, and Sutta No. 57, Themes, Book of Fives, both in the Aṅguttara Nikāya.)

Dhammapada Verse 50 can be related to the group of princes to whom the Buddha addressed his teaching. They were searching for a prostitute. This is an example of focusing on others and on the external world, which most worldly people do. It is like a mad person collecting rubbish and thinking it is treasure. They met the Buddha, who admonished them that the most important search for human beings is not to search for others, but to search for oneself.

To search for others increases defilements; to search for oneself leads to true happiness and peace.

Therefore, to search for oneself is a noble search or quest. This is also a very rare duty in the Buddha’s dispensation (Buddha-sāsana). Nobody wants suffering and stress; everyone wants happiness and peace.

Thus, this is an important duty that has two stages:

This is the end of dukkha.

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